French Laundry at Home Extra: Brioche

Before we get to the brioche, let me just say that as someone who has done PR and media work for as many years as I have, when you get a call or an email from the Wall Street Journal, ya get the chills. Trust me, you just do. It's either gonna be really, really good or really, really bad. In my case, it turned out to be really, really good, and I have technology reporter and Portals columnist Lee Gomes to thank for that.

When Lee got in touch to write about cook-through blogs, I was honored that he wanted to include me in the story. When the piece finally ran, I was so pleased with how well it was written, and delighted to be among such great company. There are some really fun cook-the-book blogs out there, and I hope you'll check them out.

Thanks, Lee.

And thanks to all of you for being the great readers you are, and for all your amazing and awesome comments in the previous post. You guys are the best -- I think I might just have a bigger crush on all of you than I do Mike Bloomberg. Oh, and I was remiss in not mentioning two other key players in this TV expedition of mine -- Carol and Drew -- thanks, guys!

Now, on to the brioche!

It's no secret that when I've needed brioche for any of my previous dishes, I bought a loaf at the local co-op. I figured it was about time that I actually tried to make brioche of my own, and see if I could actually accomplish something positive in the baking arena. Most of you know it's not really my forte.

The recipe for brioche in The French Laundry Cookbook is actually from Jean-Louis Palladin. Jean-Louis was famous for many things, but here in Washington he was perhaps best known for his restaurant at The Watergate. I came to Washington in the mid-1980s to go to college, and my campus was a few blocks away from The Watergate. It's where the closest grocery store was, and I thought I was so cool telling all my friends back home that I did my grocery shopping at The Watergate. I know -- it's totally lame, but back then I thought it was all kinds of awesome.

I remember walking past Jean-Louis' restaurant to get to the supermarket, and wondered if I'd ever be able to eat there in my lifetime. The summer between my sophomore and junior year I turned 20 and decided to take myself to dinner at Jean-Louis at the Watergate (of course, I had no money; I put in on my credit card -- ah, the reckless spending of my youth). I was working three jobs that summer, and one of the lawyers I temped for got me a reservation. I don't remember every course I was served, but I remember that I had duck and it was unlike any duck I'd ever had before. Thankfully, the drinking age was 18 at the time, so I was also able to enjoy some wine with dinner. I wish I'd taken notes that night or had a more clear memory of the evening, but I think I obliterated those brain cells during my final two years at school. Go figure.

Even still, I think it's an honor to be able to make something from Jean-Louis Palladin's repertoire -- even if it is just a loaf of bread. So here we go...

The first step is to combine hot water and a packet of yeast in a small bowl -- after which you let it just sit there for ten minutes, then you stir it to further dissolve it:

Before we go any further, I'd like you to meet Carol Stevens, the founder of the Red Star Yeast Company:
At first, I thought she looked like an air-brushed Bea Arthur, but upon closer inspection, I think SHE'S TOTALLY JUDGING ME AND WAITING FOR ME TO FAIL. I'LL SHOW YOU, CAROL STEVENS!!!!

Ahem.

While the yeast was dissolving in the water, I sifted together the flour, cake flour, salt, and sugar into my mixing bowl:

I added the eggs to the flour mixture, and beat it for one minute at low speed using my Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook attachment.

After one minute, I slowly added the dissolved yeast, and continued beating it on low for about five minutes, after which time, I turned off the mixer and pulled the dough from the hook:

I put the mixer back down into the bowl and mixed it again for another five minutes. Then, I added the butter to the dough, a few tablespoons at a time, and clocked a minute in between each addition of butter.

Once all the butter had been added, I kept it on low and let it mix for 12 minutes. During that 12 minutes, I ate these:

Then, I cut these from my garden:

Then, I also cut and arranged these:

Time to take the dough out of the mixing bowl and put it in a floured bowl for 3 hours so it could rest and rise:


Here comes my favorite part: after it had risen, I took it out of the bowl and plopped it onto a floured work surface, where I folded the dough over onto itself a few times to get rid of the air bubbles. It's wild -- you can actually feel thousands of teeny, tiny air bubbles popping under the palm of your hand... kind of like what really cold Sprite feels like going down your throat. That same kind of burble-y sound and feel. It was cool.

I put the bubble-be-gone dough back into the bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight:

The next morning, I split the dough in half and put each half into a buttered loaf pan and let those sit on the countertop for about 3 hours -- enough time for the dough to rise just above the top of the pans:

I put these loaves into a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. The tops were brown and I tapped on the bottom of each pan to make sure it sounded hollow. I took them out of the loaf pans and let them cool for ten minutes on a baking rack. Wanna see the end result?



I immediately wrapped and froze one loaf, and sliced right into the other loaf:

It was eggy and bready and light and airy and fluffy like a floaty, delicious pillow of lovely, cakey goodness. (Again, Culinary Institute of America, I am here for all your technical, textbook-writing needs.)

Seriously, I don't ever make bread. I think I've made zucchini bread 3 or 4 times in my life, but that's more of a sweet treat to me than anything else. I'm just not a baker, and I have never made real bread before. But this? I would make this again, for sure. I cut a few slices for my neighbors, and saved the rest for me. I've had some as toast, and I used some for lunch today:

Yes, I eat peanut butter on toast almost every day. Judge me. I dare you. I think I'll let the remaining bit get a wee bit stale and use it for French toast in the morning, then break out the other loaf from the freezer and find a delicious use for that. It's gonna be a bread-tastic week.

Chances are, most of you probably already have all the ingredients on-hand to make this. I say give it a whirl and let me know how it goes. Especially the punching out all the bubbles part.

Up Next: Fava Bean Agnolotti with Curry Emulsion

Resources:
King Arthur flour
Pillsbury cake flour
Smith Meadows Farm eggs
David's kosher salt
Domino sugar
Red Star yeast
365 organic unsalted butter

Music to Cook By: Hall & Oates; The Essential. My friend, Catherine, got to interview Daryl and John at an event recently. Despite John's tragic plastic surgery (WHY DO MEN DO THIS; KNOCK IT OFF!), they still look great and for me, their music is timeless. I mean, what girl didn't want to change her name to Sara when "Sara Smile" came out? And, if you haven't seen the parody that is Yacht Rock, prepare yourselves for even more Hall & Oates fabulosity.

Read My Previous Post: "Head to Toe" -- Part Two (Pig's Head)